Samsung Galaxy S23 phones could run this exclusive souped-up version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Samsung’s Galaxy S23 seriesis two weeks away from an official unveil, but with leaks ranging from high-res renders to in-depth spec leaks, the sense of mystery is all but gone. While it’s been long assumed theS23 would use a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2— perhaps throughout most, if not all, of the world — a new rumor suggests a crucial detail. On the heels of theSamsung and Qualcomm partnershipannounced last year, we might be looking at a customized processor built exclusively for these three phones.
The S23 series will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, according to a new report from9to5Google. It’s the same chipset the company introduced in November, but with a fresh rebrand and a higher clock speed. The main Cortex X3 core will run at 3.36GHz, up from 3.2GHz. Although initial reports suggested Samsung would also be taking over manufacturing these chipsets on its own foundry — just as it had with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 — we’ve since learnedthis isn’t the case.
That last part is good news for Samsung fans. Although it would be unfair to call the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 an outright disaster, it was riddled with controversy after the chipset failed to perform up to expectations. It ran hot, drained the life out of otherwise capable batteries, and perhaps most damning of all, failed to even meet theperformance benchmarks set by its predecessor. With amid-cycle refresh, Qualcomm moved to TSMC’s foundries, delivering a much more power-efficient chip in the process for phones likeSamsung’s own Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Qualcomm stuck with TSMC for theSnapdragon 8 Gen 2, and it sounds like despite the special branding, this upgraded chipset won’t change that. Whether that improved clock speed performs well enough to score the top spot among thebest Android phonesaround remains to be seen, and it’ll stay a mystery until we get these devices in our hands.
UPDATE: 2023/01/19 11:04 EST BY WILL SATTELBERG
TSMC still set to manufacture
After publication, we learned the original leaker for this custom-branded Qualcomm chipset clarified on Twitter that TSMC will still be manufacturing, not Samsung. We’ve updated this article and regret the error.
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